"Film Two"

Film Two has been recently revealed in an interview with Del Toro and Jackson, to be a continuation of The Hobbit. The interview which was included in Empire magazines 20th Birthday Special, expressed how the pair believed it would be better not to cram The Hobbit into one movie, but span it over two.

"We've decided to have The Hobbit span the two movies, including the White Council and the comings and goings of Gandalf to Dol Guldur"

This interview goes with what Jackson and Del Toro said in a web chat with fans, when it was said that the story could take place during the events of the Hobbit; because of the fact that Gandalf continually disappears in the book. Jackson said "Those gaps are great! There's a lot of stuff going on, which is distracting him".[6]

Issues concerning production

Directorship

The Hobbit as a movie has been anticipated by many fans since the release of The Lord of the Rings. Even before the pre-production began there had been and are still issues which could delay the production of Guillermo del Toro's The Hobbit. In early 2005 it came to the public attention that Peter Jackson was suing New Line Cinema.[7] This cast doubt on whether or not The Hobbit would ever be made. Jackson later told fans that, due to the dispute, he would neither direct nor produce the film.[7] In late 2007 it was confirmed that Jackson would not direct, but would be an executive producer for two Hobbit movies.[8] It was later announced that Guillermo del Toro would direct the films, and that Jackson will be an active 'executive producer' with the possibility that he would help direct some scenes if necessary.[6]

However, on 30 May 2010 it was revealed that del Toro could no longer commit himself to direct The Hobbit films, citing the continued delays in production in his reasoning. [9] Peter Jackson later announced that he would direct both films. [10]

Christopher Tolkien's lawsuit with Newline Cinema

In May 2008 it was reported that Christopher Tolkien would ask "for 'one last crusade' against the film's producers in his long-running legal battle over money owed for the Lord Of The Rings movies."[11] On June 6, 2008, it was scheduled for him to go before a Californian judge to ask to "terminate" film rights to The Hobbit. However the dispute was later settled on 8 September 2009.[12]

Industrial dispute in New Zealand

In September 2010, the production of The Hobbit films was again delayed when the International Federation of Actors issued the following order to all members of its associated unions:

"Resolved, that the International Federation of Actors urges each of its affiliates to adopt instructions to their members that no member of any FIA affiliate will agree to act in the theatrical film The Hobbit until such time as the producer has entered into a collective bargaining agreement with the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance for production in New Zeal]and providing for satisfactory terms and conditions for all performers employed on the productions."

This meant that Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema considered moving the production elsewhere, possibly to eastern Europe.[14] However, following talks with the New Zealand government, Warner Bros. decided to proceed as planned to film The Hobbit in New Zealand as originally planned. The New Zealand government subsequently passed legislation to amend their labour laws to ensure that production stayed in the country.[15]

Plot details

Special effects

Weta will continue their role in handling the special effects. Del Toro has stated he wishes to focus more on animatronics for the films.

"The only thing I will be pushing for more in these films that the other three are full animatronics and animatronic creatures enhanced with CGI, as opposed to CGI creatures themselves. We really want to take the state-of-the-art animatronics and take a leap ten years into the future with the technology we will develop for the creatures in the movie. We have every intention to do for animatronics and special effects what the other films did for virtual reality."

Possible rating

In an interview with the BBC Del Toro has commented on the level of horror and violence in the The Hobbit, being, like Jackson, a director with a background in that genre.

"The intensity of the scenes of the Hobbit will have the intensity they had in the book when I was a kid reading them.

The spiders of Mirkwood are a pretty harrowing experience and facing the great goblin in the caves is quite a thrilling moment. The Battle of the Five Armies, the first encounter with Gollum - there are scary moments in the book.

But they are already there. We are not inventing or trying to do horror for horror's sake we are trying to imbue those moments of intensity in the book into the movie."